Book support



Jam 5, 1943- v-. T. LITTLEJOHN' 2,307,143

BOOK SUPPORT `F'ild. Jan. 19, 1942 Patented Jan. 5, 1943 UNITED STATESeATENr oserei:

BOOK SUPPORTl Vance T. Littlejohn, Greensboro, N. C.

Application January 19, 1942, Serial No. 427,381

4 Claims.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in means forsupporting a book at an inclination on a tab-le, desk or other likebody, in a position so as to be easily readable.

The invention has for an object to provide a simple, lightweight devicethat can' be manufactured at low cost from plastics or other suitablematerials.

A further object is to provide a book support which is held on the bookby means of a blade that enters, downwardly, between the cover back andthe leaf rib or binder-back, and which may be retained on the book andused as a place marker when the book is not in use.

Other objects will in part be obvious and in part be pointed outhereinafter.

To the attainment ofthe aforesaid objects and `:nds the invention stillfurther resides in the novel details of construction, combination andarrangement of parts, all of which will be first Fig. 3 is an enlargeddetail front elevation of a portion of the support.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line -II of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a section onthe line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a rear elevation of the parts shown ,Y

in Fig. 3, the legs being folded together and moved ninety degrees fromtheir Aposition in Figs. 3 and 4.

Fig. 'l is a detail cross section on the line 'I--l of Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a modication oi the device.

Fig. 9 is a detail View of a modification, hereinafter again referredto.

In the drawing, in which like parts are indicated by the same referencenumber in all the gures, I represents a blade having, preferably, aconvex back face 3 and a flat front face 2.

The blade I is of a length sufficient to enter between the outside backIl (the cover binderface, which merge with lateral bevelled or inclinedgrooves 5 (see Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6).

Passing transversely through the head l is a pivot pin 1 on which thelegs 8 are pivoted; the legs 8 have holes 9 of sufficiently largerdiameter than that of the pin I to enable the legs to be spread apartinto the grooves 5 (Fig. 5) or be folded together (Fig. 6), as desired.The combined thickness of the two legs 8 is such that when foldedtogether the legs may be swivelled about the pin I in the slot I9 of thehead '4 (see Fig. 6).

The ends of the legs 3 which are adjacent the pivot pin 'I are bevelledas at I0 so as to abut f one another, face to face, when the legs arespread apart and lie in the grooves 5 (Figs. 3 and 5). The other ends ofthe legs t are tapered as at II, or they may be provided withlongitudinally adjustable rubberized inserts I8 (Fig. 9), or othersuitable non-slipping means.

In order further to prevent the blade I from slipping outl of the bookback, I provide a clip which may be formed by stamping out a tongue I3from the blade as at I2 (Figs. 2 to 6), or it may be a clip I3a of thepencil-clip type, secured to the back of the blade by molding its lug 20in the material of the blade (Fig. 8).

In Figs. 1 and 2 the book covers are indicated by I4 and the leaves byI5.

In using my invention the book is rst opened and the blade I is slippeddown between the back II and the inside binding I6 with the clip I3overlying the top edge of the back I'I. The legs 8 are rotated on thepin 'I until they assume a position parallel with the grooves 5,whereupon they are spread apart until they lie in the grooves 5, 5, asshown in Fig. 5. The parts will then be in the position shown in Fig. land, in full lines in Fig. 2.

When one is through reading the book, the legs are brought together andturned in a clockwise direction, in Figs. 2 and 4 (see arrow in Fig. 4)until they assume the dotted line position of Figs. 2' and 4. The bookis then closed (dot and dash lines in Fig. 2) with the legs 8 lyingbetween the leaves as a book place mark, and the blade remaining inplace in the binder back of the book.

In order that the legs 8 may be conveniently defiected when used as bookplace markers, especially toward the front and back of the book, thewalls of the slot I9 are tapered apart downwardly from the grooves 5 asat lila. This enables the legs to be sprung or bent to one side or theother of the center of the book to allow for the thickness of theleaves.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a simple,light-weight and inexpensive device which is especially useful tostudents of shorthand or students of chemistry who must have the bookavailable for reference while their hands are otherwise occupied.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing, it is thought that the construction, operation andadvantages of my invention will be clear to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

l. A book support comprising, a blade insertable lengthwise between theback and the leafA binding of a book, a bifurcated head on said blade, apair of legs pivotally mounted in the slot between the furcations ofsaid head, and transverse grooves in the head, said legs beingconstructed so that they may be spread apart at their free ends to liein part in said transverse grooves when the support is inuse to supportan open book, said legs being of a combined thickness of less than thewidth of the slot between the furcations of said head, by virtue ofwhich the legs may be swung from a position in back of said head to aposition in front of the same.

2. A book support comprising, a blade insertable lengthwise between theback and the leaf binding of a book, a bifurcated head on said blade, apair of legs pivotally mounted in the slot between the furcations ofsaid head, transverse grooves in the head, said legs being constructedso that they may be spread apart at their free ends to lie in part insaid transverse grooves when the support is in use to support an openbook, said legs being of a combined thickness of less than the width ofthe slot between the furcations of said head, by virtue of which thelegs may be swung from a position in back of said head to a position infront of the same, and a pivot pin passing through said head on whichpin said legs are mounted, the position of said pin with respect to thelength of the slot between the furcations of the head being such thatwhen the legs are out of alignment with the grooves in the head the legswill be held together by the furcations of the head.

3. A book support comprising, a blade insertable lengthwise between theback and the yleaf binding of a book, a bifurcated head on said blade, apair of legs pivotally mounted in the slot between the furcations ofsaid head, and transverse grooves in the head, said legs beingconstructed so that they may be spread apart at their free ends to liein part in said transverse grooves when the support is in use to supportan open book, the adjacent side walls of the furcations being taperedapart downwardly from the transverse grooves and at the front of thehead by virtue of which the legs when positioned for use as book-marksmay be laterally deflected.

4. A book support comprising, a blade insertable lengthwise between theback and the leaf binding of a book, a clip on said blade to overlie thetop edge of the book back, a bifurcated head on said blade, a pair oflegs pivotally mounted in the slot between the furcations of said head.and transverse grooves in the head, said legs being constructed so thatthey may be spread apart at their free ends to lie in part in saidtransverse grooves when the support is in use to support an open book,the adjacent side walls of the furcations being tapered apart downwardlyfrom the transverse grooves and at the front of the head by virtue ofwhich the legs when positioned for use as book-marks may be laterallydeected.

VANCE T. LITTLEJOHN.

